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Finding Dory
Finding Dory is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Angus MacLane, the screenplay was written by Stanton and Victoria Strouse. The film is a sequel/spinoff to 2003's Finding Nemo and features the returning voices of Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks, with Hayden Rolence (replacing Alexander Gould), Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, and Eugene Levy joining the cast. The film focuses on the amnesiac fish Dory, who journeys to be reunited with her parents. The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on June 8, 2016, and was released in the United States on June 17, 2016. Upon release, the film was well-received by critics and grossed over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the second Pixar film to cross $1 billion after 2010's Toy Story 3, the third highest-grossing film of 2016 and the 22nd-highest-grossing of all-time at the time of its theatrical run. The film set numerous box office records, including the biggest opening for an animated film in North America, and the highest-grossing animated film in North America. Plot One year after the events of the first film, Dory begins having fragmented dreams and flashbacks of her life before meeting Marlin and Nemo, particularly of her parents. After hearing a lecture from Mr. Ray about migration, where sea animals use instinct to return home, Dory's memories are triggered and she has the sudden urge to find her parents, only vaguely remembering that they lived at "the Jewel of Morro Bay, California". Marlin is at first reluctant to allow Dory to travel across the ocean, but with urging from Nemo and remembering the pain he felt nearly losing Nemo, he reluctantly agrees to accompany Dory. With help from Crush, Dory, Marlin and Nemo ride the ocean current to California. Dory then wanders near a shipwreck, where the trio are forced to flee from a predatory giant squid, almost killing Nemo in the process. Marlin blames Dory for endangering Nemo and angrily tells her forgetting things is all she is good for. Hurt, Dory wanders off to the surface and is "rescued" by volunteers from the nearby Marine Life Institute. Dory is then tagged and sent to the Quarantine section of the Institute, where she meets a runaway red octopus named Hank. Hank desires Dory's tag since it means that instead of being released back into the wild like other fish, she will be sent to a permanent aquarium in Cleveland. Hank, due to a past traumatic experience, fears living in the wild and would rather live in a safe enclosure, so he makes a deal with Dory to help her find her parents in exchange for her tag. After observing various clues and recalling memory fragments, Dory deduces that she was born in the Institute's Open Ocean section and that should be where her parents are. Along the way, she enlists the help of her old childhood friend Destiny, a near-sighted whale shark, and Bailey, a beluga whale who believes he has lost his ability to echolocate. After reaching her old home in the Open Ocean exhibit, Dory learns that all of the blue tangs like her are being transferred to Cleveland, meaning her parents should be back in Quarantine. Meanwhile, Marlin and Nemo try to rescue Dory, and they enlist the help of a pair of sea lions named Fluke and Rudder, who introduce them to a friendly but dimwitted common loon called Becky. Becky manages to get them inside the Institute with a bucket, and Marlin and Nemo make their way through various exhibits before reuniting with Dory in the Institute's labyrinthine pipe system. Reunited, the trio head for Quarantine, where they manage to find the tank the other blue tangs are being held in. However, they explain that when a young Dory was sucked out through the Institute's pipe system, her parents went to Quarantine to look for her but never came back, indicating they likely died in the attempt. While Dory is in shock, Hank attempts to evacuate her, Marlin and Nemo, but only manages to retrieve Dory. Marlin and Nemo are stuck in the blue tang tank as it is loaded in the truck bound for Cleveland, and in his haste to escape Hank accidentally drops Dory into a drain, leaving her alone in the ocean again. Having forgotten why she is in the ocean, Dory wanders aimlessly before she comes across a trail of shells. Remembering that her parents taught her to follow a trail of shells to get back home, Dory follows the trail and eventually is reunited with her parents, Charlie and Jenny. They both reveal that when they could not find Dory in Quarantine, they deduced she escaped into the ocean, so they escaped the Institute as well and have been spending the past few years laying down trails of shells in the hope that Dory would find them and follow them home. Happy to be back with her family, Dory suddenly remembers that she needs to rescue Marlin and Nemo. Destiny and Bailey escape their exhibits to help Dory intercept the truck, which they temporarily manage to stop the truck by asking sea otters to get onto the highway and distract traffic. Destiny then launches Dory in the sky, and the otters catches her and brings her to the truck. Once inside, Dory manages to help Marlin and Nemo escape, but is accidentally left behind. With the truck door locked tight, Dory then convinces Hank that living in the wild is not so bad, and Hank agrees to help her escape again. They work together to hijack the truck and drive it off a cliff into the ocean, freeing all of the other fish inside as well. Reunited, Dory, her parents and Hank return with Marlin and Nemo to live a new life at the Great Barrier Reef. In a post-credits scene, the "Tank Gang" from the previous film, still trapped in their plastic bags, manage to make their way to California, where they are promptly "rescued" by volunteers from the Marine Life Institute. Voice cast * Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a Pacific regal blue tang with short-term memory loss.12 Sloane Murray and Lucia Geddes voice Dory at younger ages.13 * Albert Brooks as Marlin, a clownfish and Nemo's father.12 Hayden Rolence as Nemo, a young clownfish and Marlin's son.14 He was voiced by Alexander Gould in the previous film. Ed O'Neill as Hank, an ill-tempered East Pacific red octopus who previously lost a tentacle, causing him to be referred by Dory as a "septopus."115 * Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a near-sighted whale shark and Dory's childhood friend.11617 * Ty Burrell as Bailey, a beluga whale who temporarily lost echolocation due to a recent concussion.12 Diane Keaton as Jenny, a Pacific regal blue tang and Dory's mother.12 Eugene Levy as Charlie, a Pacific regal blue tang and Dory's father.12 Idris Elba18 as Fluke, an easygoing but very territorial California sea lion.19 Dominic West18 as Rudder, a Californian sea lion and Fluke's buddy, who shares the same rock.19 Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a spotted eagle ray who was Nemo's school teacher in the first film.20 Andrew Stanton as Crush, a sea turtle from the first film.21 Bennett Dammann as Squirt, a young sea turtle who was Crush's son from the first film.22 He was voiced by Nicholas Bird in the previous film. Kate McKinnon as Inez22 Bill Hader as Ned22 * Sigourney Weaver as herself in the Institute PA system.23 Alexander Gould as Passenger Carl1324 Torbin Xan Bullock as Becky,13 a friendly and helpful but dimwitted common loon. * John Ratzenberger as Bill,13 a crab Angus MacLane as Sunfish13 Katherine Ringgold as Chickenfish13 Willem Dafoe as Gill, a moorish idol,13 who was the leader of the "Tank Gang" from the first film Brad Garrett as Bloat, a porcupinefish13 and a member of the "Tank Gang" Allison Janney as Peach, a pink starfish13 and a member of the "Tank Gang" Austin Pendleton as Gurgle, a royal gramma13 and a member of the "Tank Gang" Stephen Root as Bubbles, a yellow tang13 and a member of the "Tank Gang" Vicki Lewis as Deb, a four-striped damselfish13 and a member of the "Tank Gang" * Jerome Ranft as Jacques, a cleaner shrimp.13 and a member of the "Tank Gang". He was voiced by the late Joe Ranft in the previous film. Production Prior to work on Finding Dory, Disney had planned to make a Finding Nemo sequel without Pixar's involvement, through Circle 7 Animation, a studio Disney announced in 2005 with the intention to make sequels to Pixar properties.2526 However, in 2006, Circle 7 was shut down by Disney without ever having produced a film.27 In July 2012, it was reported that Andrew Stanton was developing a sequel to Finding Nemo,28 with Victoria Strouse writing the script and a release date scheduled for 2016.29 However, the same day the news of a potential sequel broke, Stanton posted a message on his personal Twitter calling into question the accuracy of these reports. The message said, "Didn't you all learn from Chicken Little? Everyone calm down. Don't believe everything you read. Nothing to see here now. #skyisnotfalling".30 According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter published in August 2012, Ellen DeGeneres was in negotiations to reprise her role of Dory.31 In September 2012, it was confirmed by Stanton, saying: "What was immediately on the list was writing a second Carter movie. When that went away, everything slid up. I know I'll be accused by more sarcastic people that it's a reaction to Carter not doing well, but only in its timing, but not in its conceit".32 In February 2013, it was confirmed by the press that Albert Brooks would reprise the role of Marlin in the sequel.33 In April 2013, Disney announced the sequel, Finding Dory, for November 25, 2015, confirming that Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks would be reprising their roles as Dory and Marlin, respectively.34 Following a long campaign for a sequel on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres stated: I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. I'm not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy creating Toy Story 16. But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It's got a lot of heart, it's really funny, and the best part is—it's got a lot more Dory.34 In a July 2013 interview with Los Angeles Times, Stanton spoke of the sequel's origin: "There was polite inquiry from Disney a Finding Nemo sequel. I was always 'No sequels, no sequels.' But I had to get on board from a VP standpoint. Sequels are part of the necessity of our staying afloat, but we don't want to have to go there for those reasons. We want to go there creatively, so we said Disney, 'Can you give us the timeline about when we release them? Because we'd like to release something we actually want to make, and we might not come up with it the year you want it'".35 In a 2016 interview Stanton stated how the film's story came to be; "I don't watch my films that often after they're done because I have to watch them so many times before they come out. So about 2010 when we were getting Finding Nemo ready for the 10-year re-release in 3D, it was interesting to watch again after all that time. Something kind of got lodged in the back of my brain and started to sort of stew. I started to think about how easily Dory could get lost and not find Marlin and Nemo again. She basically was in the same state that she was when Marlin found her. I didn't know where she was from. I knew that she had spent most of her youth wandering the ocean alone, and I wanted to know that she could find her new family, if she ever got lost again. It's almost like the parental side of me was worried". Stanton additionally stated: "I knew if I ever said Finding Dory or mentioned a sequel to Finding Nemo out loud, I’d be done, There would be no way I'd be able to put that horse back in the barn. So I kept it very quiet until I knew I had a story that I thought would hold, and that was in early 2012. So I pitched it to John Lasseter and he was all into it. Then I got a writer, and once we had a treatment that we kind of liked, I felt comfortable calling Ellen".36 The film's ending was revised after Pixar executives viewed Blackfish, a 2013 documentary film which focuses on the dangers of keeping orca whales in captivity. Initially, some of the characters were to end up in a SeaWorld-like marine park, but the revision gave them an option to leave.3738 On September 18, 2013, it was announced that the film would be pushed back to a June 17, 2016 release. Pixar's The Good Dinosaur was moved to the November 25, 2015 slot to allow more time for production of the film.39 In June 2014, it was revealed through Stanton's Twitter feed that the film would be co-directed by Angus MacLane.40 In August 2015, at Disney's D23 Expo, it was announced that Hayden Rolence would voice Nemo, replacing Alexander Gould from the first film, whose voice has deepened since reaching adulthood (Gould voiced a minor character in the sequel instead).1441 In addition to Rolence, Ed O'Neill was revealed to be the voice of Hank.14 Soundtrack Finding Dory: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Soundtrack album by Thomas Newman Released June 17, 2016 Recorded 2015-16 Genre Soundtrack Length 68:20 Label Walt Disney Thomas Newman chronology Spectre (2015) Finding Dory (2016) Pixar film soundtrack chronology The Good Dinosaur (2015) Finding Dory (2016) Singles from Finding Dory 1."Unforgettable" Released: May 27, 2016 Finding Dory: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack for the film and it is composed by Thomas Newman.42 It was released on June 17, 2016.43 On May 20, 2016, Sia performed a cover of Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show after it was announced it would be featured in the film. Track listing Track listing Release Finding Dory premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on June 8, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 17, 2016, in 2D, Disney Digital 3-D and RealD 3D.56 It was also released to IMAX 3D theaters.44 In April 2016, it was announced that a new Pixar short, Piper, directed by Alan Barillaro and with music by Adrian Belew, would be shown in front of the film.45 It had its UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 18, 2016.4647 Reception Box office As of June 19, 2016, Finding Dory has grossed $136.2 million in North America and $50 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $186.2 million against a budget of $200 million.4 It had a worldwide opening of $186 million and IMAX global opening of $6.4 million.48 North America In the United States and Canada, Finding Dory opened on June 17, 2016, alongside Central Intelligence, with projections having the film grossing $110–120 million49505152 in its opening weekend, with some estimates going as high as $130 million.5354 It received the widest release for a Pixar film (4,305 theaters, breaking Brave's record), of which 3,200 venues were in 3D, along with 425 premium large format locales, approximately 100 IMAX theaters and a handful of Dolby Cinema sites.51 It was Fandango's top pre-selling animated film of all time, outselling the previous record-holder, Minions.55 The film grossed $9.2 million from Thursday night previews, a record for both Pixar and any animated film,5657 and $54.9 million on its opening day, marking both the biggest opening day and single-day for an animated film. It is also the first time that an animated film has grossed over $50 million in a single day.5859 It went on to gross an estimated $136.2 million in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office and setting the record for highest opening weekend for an animated film (breaking Shrek the Third's record) and the third biggest adjusted for inflation. It surpassed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's $135.6 million opening to record the biggest Walt Disney opening that isn't a Marvel film or Star Wars: The Force Awakens and is the studio's seventh-biggest debut overall.48 It also became the the fifth animated film and the fourth film of 2016 to open above $100 million.60 Morever, its opening also marked the second biggest for the month of June, behind only Jurassic World.61 It's opening was 93.8% above Finding Nemo's $70.2 million debut.62 It further broke the record for the biggest PLF and Cinemark XD opening for an animated film with $10.4 million and $2.6 million respectively. In IMAX, it made $5 million from 211 IMAX theaters.63 Outside North America Outside North America, Finding Dory was released across 29 countries – which is 32% of its entire international release territories – the same weekend as its U.S. premiere. It made an estimated $50 million to take the No. 1 spot at the international box office.63 it had the biggest opening of all time for a Disney/Pixar film in Australia ($7.6 million), India, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Peru and Central America and in Russia it opened with $3.4 million,63 and the second biggest in Argentina ($3.5 million), and that’s despite amidst Argentina's Copa America soccer match and Colombia ($2.1 million), behind Monsters University.63 In China, where Pixar films have been struggling to find broad audiences and accrue lucrative revenues, the film is projected to make around $30 million in its opening weekend.64 The film ended up grossing $17.5 million, the highest Pixar opening in the country's history.63 Critical response Finding Dory received positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 95%, based on 167 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Funny, poignant, and thought-provoking, Finding Dory delivers a beautifully animated adventure that adds another entertaining chapter to its predecessor's classic story."65 On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".11 On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.66 Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, saying: "I never thought I wanted a sequel to Finding Nemo, but here we are and I’m pretty happy it exists. And, for me, it was a more emotional experience than the first film. Finding Dory got me – it made me cry."67 References External links * Finding Dory on IMDb * Finding Dory at Rotten Tomatoes Category:2016 films Category:English-language films Category:2010s American animated films Category:2016 3D films Category:2016 computer-animated films Category:American animated films Category:American films Category:American sequel films Category:Film scores by Thomas Newman Category:Films about amnesia Category:Films about disabilities Category:Films about fish Category:Films directed by Andrew Stanton Category:Films directed by Angus MacLane Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Category:Films set in California Category:Films set in the Pacific Ocean Category:Films set in zoos Category:Finding Nemo Category:IMAX films Category:Pixar animated films Category:Screenplays by Andrew Stanton Category:Walt Disney Pictures films